clear, mr. macgovern, your concern with the national debt and the budget deficit you would allow the cuts to go through? glak i didn't say that. i'm trying to get collar clarity i'm making a larger point. you're fighting over a side show of the war. ..

and that's my point. >> if i can i don't want to put words in john small, but john i think you said if i remember correctly, that the budget was, quote on quote, too timid. did you say that? i did. let's be clear what the right and budget does is make devastating cuts and virtually every program in the medicare as we know it right now major cuts in pell grants, major cuts in nutrition programs and i have no doubt. john as i understand it wanted to go even further to see the

deficit reduction to do it not on the backs of the elderly, the sec and the poor and that is by asking the wealthiest people and the largest corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. i was talking about it gets us to solve that problem over a period of ten years. i thought ten years was too long basically. that was not an endorsement of every single item in the budget but the direction is going in, and whether or not i would support cutting if i supported that the budget i don't know. i have to look at the budget and see what cuts are necessary, but the most important point to remember is this. half of the budget is reform of the tax code to get the economy flat in the tax rates, lower the rates or on the base deutsch a trillion dollars of credits and

the major corporations might take advantage to get the economy going and get revenues back up, get people back to work and you have less need for these programs and if it was to save the country to do it in a responsible way. >> i will get to it in a moment i'm not putting your words in your mouth. i want to understand in the short term over the next year or two would you cut the liheap funding of? diamondstone: if i were in the senate today i would spend as much money as i could get without breaking the back of the budget to bring back to those who needed in vermont. it lets people have more of their money don't you think.

the government isn't. they would go without it is an absurdity. >> moderator: ms. ericson? ericson: my grandfather was born in the him perform and it used to be legal and if we legalize it again we could pay for liheap. legalizing and taxing marijuana and hemp won't pay for everything but if it comes between vermont freezing to death in their home and legalizing tax marijuana and pay for the fuel assistance with that. >> moderator: you are watching a live debate at the studio of the vermont public television. the candidates of the united states senate. why don't we move next to health care. we will start with you -- [inaudible] >> moderator: we are going to move to the next topic here. i want to discuss health care and whether or not you support the affordable care act otherwise known as obamacare and we start with you. i support socialize medicine and one of the problems we can't get

it because we are tied up in the single-payer issue which is administered in fact and sure we should have it and would take 20 some odd percent of the bill but we will still end up with a rotten medical system that we have and big pharma running it in the industry and there won't be ending to the hundreds of deaths and there won't be an end to the spinal meningitis from the injections. we have a situation where the people that make the inoculations are not like the nuclear power plant. they don't have to have insurance because you can't sue that they can't sue them or you get sick. we, the taxpayers are standing and we are supporting that but not liheap and what i said in the beginning is these guys are what we want gridlock.

gridlock works to their benefits after i graduated college many years ago. in the state of massachusetts it was the state licensed and health insurance agent for new york life insurance company if we pay taxes for something that we shouldn't have middlemen. when we send kids to school grades k-12, we don't buy insurance to send them to school. we just send them to school and our tax is paid for it so if we are going to have tax forced to pay for health care than it should be government-run clinics and government-run hospitals and we shouldn't have any metal men, there shouldn't be any insurance involved. new york times' national edition october 23rd, 2012 there something i'm concerned about. a lot of people are being denied nursing home therapy services.

this is going before a federal judge in the federal district court of vermont, and she's going to try to approve the settlement and enforce it for only four years. the term is six years she's only going to enforce the settlement then send me to the senate for all six years i will fix the problem. >> moderator: laframbroise? laframbroise: we shouldn't have middlemen. that is why section 2 of the u.s. constitutional amendment is a living wage that citizens are guaranteed the right to a living wage that provides an opponent with basic necessities including health care with a lifetime cap, and the second bill repeals obamacare and replaces it with a bill in which the employer has

to put a portion of the employees wages and to help savings account, which can be used for minor health care spills into a retirement savings account so the employer is expected to pay for catastrophic health care with a lifetime cap for all employees and is a 1 million for lifetime. the government stays out of the whole business of health care the patient decides their budget issues and the medical issues. >> moderator: thank you. mr. macgovern? macgovern: i am strongly opposed to the affordable care act i think it's a huge mistake in the midst of a massive recession throwing people out of work and the economy on its knees to make a move to take over one-third of

the economy and with respect to it, to me it was an absurdity. a 2700 page bill that you had to vote for it before you read it. a bill in which 15,000 agents are being hired to force americans to buy insurance where many of the religious freedom rights of this country have been taken away or attempted to take away i think it is a huge mistake. i believe and mr. sanders believes it doesn't go far enough. i believe it went entirely in the wrong direction. the 10 million people we ought to find ways to get an insurance and get them covered and not mess up the current system in this country. moss: i'm in favor of single pair. to me it only means that

medicine and related needs for a birthright, and i blame the incumbency not only for not having provided this for all our troubles if they had acted in good conscience instead of trying to get financing for the reelection we wouldn't have any problems, so why go back to the plan for the initiative recall for the direct democracy and border control. >> moderator: mr. sanders? sanders: it's the only country in the world that doesn't guarantee health care to its people as a right. i voted for the affordable care act after i got insurance and it

happened that we double funding for community health centers meaning 20 million more americans would have access to primary health care here in the state of vermont and a means we went from two qualified centers to eight. we now have 120,000 vermonters accessing these getting not only primary health care but dental care, mental health counseling and the lowest cost prescription drugs available. long term we need to move towards a single payer system. i hope very much that our small state will lead the nation in making health care has a right and doing it in a cost-effective way which covers all of our people. >> moderator: we are good start the next right with you, is the government right to build chrysler and the other companies? ericson: definitely not. can i say one more thing about health care? mulken absolutely, definitely not. business should be the cream

rises to the top. struggle as you might. it's just totally and completely wrong. that's what you call socialism and communism and it's taking from everyone to make a few people wealthy. it's wrong. >> section 10 of the u.s. constitutional amendment says the government is prohibited from creating walls or establishing organizations aimed at supporting more competing in the market for goods or services and shouldn't the states for the states run goods and services. regulatory laws governing the market shall be constrained by applicable sections of the constitution as amended. congress has six years from the date of ramification to adjust the current law and eliminate federal organizations and payment to the steve organizations to support or provide marketable goods and services.

>> moderator: thank you. mr. macgovern? macgovern: i wouldn't support the bailout of government failed businesses. i believe and as i've said many times, free-market and free - a credit more wealth, more prosperity for more people than any other system coming and you have to be free to succeed, but you also have to be free to fail. orderly bankruptcy would have occurred part another company never took a nickel and survived and that is the way that i would have proceeded on that point. the government doesn't have any money. we are sending our children and grandchildren is money, so let the free market work. >> moderator: mr. moss? moss: the free market did really well. after the second world war when the united states was a growing

-- had a the growing economy for many reasons that is no longer the case. and instead of allowing the 1% to rip off the 99% by the stock market's i would convert corporations to coopt their own and manage and operate the enterprise in the stockholders' and the wall street speculation manipulation and move on to control. thank you. >> four years ago just about this time because of the greedy and recklessness and the behavior on wall street, this country was losing 700,000 jobs a month, and we were on the verge of not only in international financial

collapse, but a world depression because of the disastrous trade policies it is harder and harder to buy any products made in the united states of america to lose the automobile industry would have been a real blow for our entire economy and millions of workers not just in michigan and ohio but the car dealers in the state of vermont. so, to me this wasn't an abstract question. i voted for that bailout and i am proud to see that we are once again producing automobiles in the united states of america but we have got to go through and we need to make fundamental changes on the way that wall street does business so that we don't get back into this position again, and number two we need to change our trade policies for the products that are made in the united states of america and not china. >> moderator: mr. diamondstone, your answer, please. diamondstone: i oppose those bailouts, chrysler and general motors, but the other bailouts which were far more significant

coming and we should have bought those companies including the banks, aig and the resolution backing in 2008 is that they should become public corporations, not private corporations with a bailout but public corporations owned by we the people and we could keep the jobs and keep people reasonable salaries. we don't have to pay than the salaries aig gets, the salaries that stearns and i can't even think of the corporations. all those folks that we bailed out we have to get rid of the federal reserve system first because that is the source of the problem because every dollar that we get is worth less and less every time that one is issued.

>> it is time now for our closing statements, and we have drawn strolls to see who goes first and we start tonight with laura laframbroise of the vote kiss party. laframbroise: there is an old saying it is easier said than done, and you can see tonight that there is an awful lot of talk, a lot of opinions and a lot of i do this and i do that if i get into office. but don't kiss does something completely different. it says let's come up with some things that most americans agree with, not politicians because a lot of these things in done u.s. constitution were their power. there are common things that we want to get done and have wanted to get done since mr. smith went to washington in the thirties. and let's put them into bills and let's vote almost directly for those bills and bypass the whole political stuff than we will have things like campaign

spending limits and things like most of these people have talked about. we want to get this done. how are you going to do it for domestic converse? with a congress that the bodies people's votes and actually has the gall to stand here and be proud of the fact that they brought all of this money to vermont when we are 16 trillion in debt that's 15 the house and offers a head and then he has the gall to talk about how she will have the people of fixed-income debt $6.9 million in $45 apiece donations where guess where they come from, not vermont, 9% of that money came from vermont and came from people on fixed incomes all over the country. what are you going to do with 6.9 million when he is a sure win to win is beyond me. this is the kind of thing that this vote could -- the u.s.

constitution amendment attacked and salt in words you can read body going to www.votekiss.org. read the bill. >> moderator: libertarian candidate, you are next. diamondstone: when they decided to bring in the corporation longtime operator in the nuclear weapons since the beginning of nuclear weapons in the 1940's, under the correction of course of the largest weapons manufacturer in the world, lockheed martin, that's when i decided that i had to become a secessionist and part of the things that we need to do in advance of that is to solve the national guard said that mr. sanders' army cannot shanghai the army into war because there will be no national guard for him to take

from. we will need to have our own banking systems of the federal reserve isn't ripping us off any minute the issue a new dollar. we need a vermont bank. that's been advocated by every vermont state county treasurer since the 1980's. we need to do something about providing social services from our own endeavors. we need to tax ourselves and separate so that we don't pay taxes to the government, we only pay taxes to ourselves through our own state bank. there are things that we can do to become independent. for instance, we can say you can't use vermont land and water for the growth of gm note. we can't prohibit the sale of them in this state because we are still bound by the commerce clause, but we can for him with our land and water from being used for that purpose and we must go ahead and do that. we can prevent the vioxx problems. we don't have to have 100,000 people died because the fda

screwed up. we can have our own fda, and what we must do is have an independent investigation of the three buildings that came down in manhattan because it is impossible for three buildings to come down in their own footprint at free full speed unless they are controlled demolition. we have to carry on that investigation in vermont. >> moderator: republican john macgovern your up next. macgovern: thanks for hosting this debate and all the candidates here. i'm running because i believe this is one of the most important elections in our lifetime. this country is clearly on the wrong track. it's on the wrong track because of the people we send to washington. washington has become dysfunctional. 93% of the american people did not support what's going on in washington. they have a 7% approval rating

that is an axiomatic that it isn't working. i am trying to be a different kind of representative. someone who goes down and tries to work across the aisle to call things the way i see them and let the chips fall where they may. if you are looking for someone who has won party driving the bus on hundred miles an hour towards the cliff and the other party is driving at 60 miles an hour or 40 miles an hour, to me i am going down there to stop the bus and turnaround. i've made it very clear that's why i'm doing. i'm not going to be a typical politician. i will vote and not support the f35 as i think it is the wrong decision even though i am for strong defense i will do what i think is right for the people of

vermont. i believe that the free market and free mind people having more of their own money create wealth to encourage the entrepreneur is not to make war on the entrepreneurs is the best way to get the country moving again, and i ask the people of vermont to consider voting for me if you want change and want things to go the same way a vote for the incumbent. >> moderator: for the united states marijuana party. ericson: i know for a fact from years of litigation experience that one of the reasons there is such a disparity between the rich and poor is that there is a disparity in bankruptcy law. if you are a person and you have financial problems, you file for bankruptcy under one set of bankruptcy laws. but if you are a megacorporation you get to file under chapter 11 and get to expunge all of your debt. you don't pay what you go and then you go back into business

again with a clean slate. this cause is vast disparity between people and it's got to stop. we've got to have the same bankruptcy law for people as for corporations. i need you send me to washington dc. you need to send me to washington, d.c. we need to clear lake champlain a federally protected water reservoir to read 200,000 while they are drinking water from lake champlain and were under a big threat right now, gas, natural and another company in vermont are planning on putting a natural gas under lake champlain to build a natural gas pipeline to stir up all of the water of lake champlain and make it non-drinkable. remember one third draw their drinking water from lake champlain. all gas pipelines leak sometimes come so the gas and lead.

this would be a disaster. we have got to get lake champlain declared a federally protected water reservoir. we've got to get federal funding for the public works project because right now under vermont, the new york and the canadian side treated this ridge is being dumped into lake champlain, and that was happening when bernie sanders was the mayor of burlington dumping it into lake champlain while simultaneously people are drinking that water. >> moderator: thank you. mr. sanders york next come independent sanders. sanders: it's a little bit difficult for the time we have to answer all the accusations but let me just say this i do want to thank the people of the state of vermont for allowing me to represent them in washington and in the house and in the senate and making it the longest serving independent in the history of the united states congress. i am deeply concerned that the republican party has become an extreme right-wing party, that

the democratic party has forgotten its roots and is not as strongly as it should representing working families or the middle class. and my job as i see it in washington is to stand up and take on wall street and corporate america and fight for those people when we help the voice in washington. over the last six years that we have expanded primary health care and dental care for folks throughout the state said that for our veterans and develop the two primary health care facilities one in the newport provided a health clinic making progress on that. we haven't talked much more of global warming but we have got to address the monetary crisis of global warming and transform our energy system from fossil fuel to an energy efficiency and i'm proud that in the state of vermont we have brought millions and millions of dollars into the

state creating jobs on making the transformation. i am proud of working with senator leahy and the congressman and the governor. we've brought from washington over 400 million to help this state rebuild from hurricane irene to be the next two years the state is going to lead the nation because the federal support in terms of high-quality broadband coming to everybody in the state of vermont. we are making progress and clearly a lot more has to be done and i would very much appreciate the opportunity to continue my work in the senate. >> moderator: mr. moss of the peace and prosperity are the final candidate to speak tonight. stifel thank you. i do not have time to go over the ten bills to try to introduce. if you will elect me on november 6th, however, this contains all of my ideas and it

is on-line web site, petermoss.org. i think the few that i've already mentioned, the most important is the term of office that without it would take money out of politics because if anybody gave any candidate reelection money it is impossible and would offend a criminal violations both in the state and federal books to read and succumb a single term losses is the most important issue. and again i will appreciate your vote on november 6th. >> moderator: we appreciate very much. i want to thank all of you for joining us tonight and for all

of us here have a great night. to michigan offer a debate between candidates hoping to represent michigan's first congressional district. congressman. before being elected to congress, the representative was a medical physician serving michigan. gary mcdowell served in three terms in the michigan house of representatives from january, 2005 to january 2011. this 90 minute debate was hosted by the league of women voters of grand traverse this again.

>> good evening devotee and welcome to the forum on by the league of women voters. this gives you all the opportunity to stand here for two of the major party candidates running for the u.s. congressional district of representatives. for all of those in the north michigan. i am jennifer very league of women voters member, and i should serve as tonight's moderator. as just mentioned, we have some timekeepers. ann sweeney are the runners. raise your hand, please. if you have cards on your questions they will be taking them out and all u.s. to raise your hand you they will come around the dial and try to get the questions back to the screeners. all assist in the form of our members of the league of women voters and the league of women voters for those of you that may not know is a non-partisan,

non-political, non-partisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation in citizens and our government. the league influences public policy through education and advocacy. membership is open to all citizens of voting age, male and female. the league is an organization that does not endorse or oppose any of the local candidate or party. the league does make an effort to obtain factual information on a candidate's views and issues and then distributes this information as widely as possible. our purpose in holding this is to help you, the citizens, understand the candidates reasons and qualifications for seeking public office. to help potential voters better understand the issues that are facing congress and encourage citizens in the district to vote in the general election on november 6, 2012 only three weeks from today. a very important part of tonight's forum is the questions

that you will be asking and you will have a chance to ask these candidates. we do have some ground rules. first and foremost you'll notice there are a couple of video cameras. other than that, there will be no ideography, photographs, smartphone videos, anything of the sort tolerated. and then also, turn your cell phone to silent or off at this point so we don't have any interruption. second, there will be absolutely no outbursts, no verbal yahoos or boos, applause, nothing like that. just allow me to ask questions, and allow the candidates to give their answers and that will be it. if you can't control yourself, you'll be asked to leave because it interrupts our ability to have this running seriously. each candidate will have up to two minutes to introduce themselves, explain their reasons for seeking the office and present their qualifications for the office and to identify

any specific issues they think are relevant. then you, the audience, are invited to submit questions for the candidates on the cards that have been provided. there will not be an opportunity for you to ask questions. you may submit as many cards as questions and as many follow-up questions as you have. we will not ask follow-up questions. if the candidates response is confusing or non-responsive to the question i asked then it's up to you to write down a follow-up question and submit it and write follow up so they know this is a follow-up to something i've just asked. let us know also if you cannot hear any of the speakers. tell a runner or raise your hand and somebody will get the message through, and then for the candidates there will be assigned waved in the back that says we can't hear you and that will just be a reminder to speak up in your microphone. your questions will be collected and reviewed by the screeners looking for three things, rollins, clarity and legibility and propriety. questions that are irrelevant to the authority of public office

or those that include personal attacks or those we can't read or decipher will not be used and the attitude towards clarity. i will read the questions and tried to avoid duplication to the screeners. the initial response to the question which will rotate will be given two minutes and thereafter the other candidate will have one minute to respond or comment. after the response of the initial candidate wishes to clarify an earlier response, they will get an additional 30 seconds to do so. in the candidates will have one minute for closing remarks. my job as the moderator is to give the bound rules which we've just done and force them throughout the forum and enforce the time limits of the timekeeper and then direct your questions to one or more candidate if you want them directed to a specific candidate right the name on the top and i will wait until that is their turn to start and we will start with them and that question. to keep our focus on the purpose of the forum to learn about the candidates and the reasons why they are running.

so, at this point, we will go and dig in with the candidates opening remarks, two minutes each and we will begin with dr. benishek. benishek: thank you come jennifer and donna and the grand traverse area league of women voters for having this forum. it's a pleasure to be here today, and i thought we weren't going to have any video. >> we have one video cameras years and zero other video will be taken of the candidates, please. there are many other sources here. thank you. benishek: i would like to start my two minutes now. i'm not a politician, a doctor. i grew up in a little town in northern michigan called odierno river. we didn't have much when i was

young. my dad was taken from us in a mining accident when i was 58i was raised by my mother and my grandmother working in our family business. and i was able to save enough money to go to college, and then i went to medical school simply to get a job in the upper peninsula and i raised my family committed my medical practice and i never really thought about being in politics until 2010 when i just couldn't believe what was going on a motion to. they are spending our children's future and killing our economy. the career politicians don't understand what this debt is going to do to our children. i couldn't sit back and do nothing. i had to run pure and i think the american dream is being threatened. you know, times are tough to read a lot of moms and dads around michigan's first district

are having trouble making ends meet and planning for the future. you know, it's tough to go to the grocery store with a gas station and see place is going up and up and up. that's why the focus of my policies in washington have been to try to stimulate the economy. the last two years i've been going around talking to people when small businesses and talking to families and what i've been hearing from people in business is not that they are having trouble finding customers. they are having trouble dealing with the government. we need to decrease the amount of regulations. we need to streamline the tax code because people in business don't know their taxes are going to be next year, and they are worried about their taxes more than they are hiring and we need to retool and replace the president's health care law because it is a struggling business and that for health care in america. i am running for no other reason than to give our children and grandchildren the same opportunities that we had growing up.

we make the tough decisions now. we can give our children and grandchildren a better future. >> moderator: thank you. mr. mcdowell cracks mcdowell: christa want to thank the host of tonight's debate, the league of women voters. my name is gary mcdowell in a fifth generation farmer, small businessman, and i'm running for office this year because we have nobody elected -- i live your afford my entire life and don't know how difficult it is to make a living in northern michigan. my brothers and my balance our budget every day on the farm. we have right now going across the district democrats just don't seem to understand that we have to cut the spending, and republicans are not looking out for the ordinary working families and that's why run for

congress because we have nobody right now standing at four northern michigan. we have to have good paying jobs right now and get our economy back on track. we have to cut the deficit but we need to do it by cutting wasteful spending not on the backs of our seniors, not working families and we need to protect social security and medicare. all i will oppose any plan that forces seniors to pay more out of pocket and oppose any plan to privatize social security or raise the retirement age they deserve and earn their social security and medicare and the peace of mind and dignity and their retirement years. there's a special here in northern michigan and the great lakes and there of immeasurable value and they define us as a people and provide over 500,000 jobs right here in michigan.

con gutzman benishek isn't looking out for what is the most important to us. that's why i am running. he's promised to protect social security and medicare and one of the first votes was to and medicare to give more tax breaks to the wealthiest. it would force seniors to $6,400 a more a year and he's given to millionaires and the $20,000 in tax cuts. thank you. >> moderator: of first question will begin with dr. benishek what policies would you support to restore the safety net and help move people out of poverty? >> first he says stuff that isn't true all the time. it's simply not true that i've worked in medicare. that was voted the political life of the year of 2011 and

this stuff is not true. the best way to get people lot of poverty is to give them jobs. it is a problem that we have in this country is a lack of jobs and unemployment has been over 8 percent for over 43 months. in northern michigan they've conducted so it's really tough. and as i said before, i've been going around talking to people in business and it's not i talked to a guy that had a shop and he wanted to expand his kitchen. the usda said if he shows in the plan and get this stack of regulation. they will tell you to remodel it again but they wouldn't review the plan. this is the kind of regulatory overreach that we have accosting people small business money and

make them hesitant to hire people. we need to improve the economy so more people have jobs and there's your people year. they've increased the number of people in poverty over the last two years of the obama administration is outrageous. 15% of the people in america under the party level that we've never had before since the great depression. this administration has failed us. we talk about balancing the budget he didn't cut spending in the state legislature, he raised taxes and raised on employment to 14% and caused businesses to leave the state in droves. thank you. >> moderator: mr. mcdowell bought policies would you restore to the safety net and move people out of poverty? mcdowell: we want to work and we are ready to work. we have to keep taxes low on the

small businesses so they can grow for the future and hire people. keep taxes low for working families because we buy their goods and services. and we'll spend our money we've to look at the bureaucratic reforms replace the ones that are not working or get rid of them and have abundant natural resources in michigan we have our land and so many opportunities for the tourism industry to grow. we have these free trade deals that are hurting us because of so many jobs we need to stand up to the chinese currency. congressman benishek supported these trade deals that have cost so many jobs. he won't stand up to the chinese when they manipulate their currency and lower their goods. he's offered to put the cement companies so they can put more in the great lakes were asking those 500,000 jobs that are directly tied to the great lakes. the one statement that he may when he was asked why this high

unemployment, his response was the people here don't want to work. they want to work,,, they want someone that will work with them and what a statement that is sent to the potential employers looking to come to northern michigan. you are going to come up here and grow your business and invest your money when the congressman had said the people don't want to work? bate simulated that we are all easy? we need econ as minute is going to work for us and i will be the congressman. i would lower taxes on working men and women and vote to end the single business tax which was the largest tax reduction in the history of michigan. thank you. >> moderator: 30 seconds. benishek: garrey keeps saying stuff that isn't true and he thinks that's going to get him elected. i think what we need most from our elected officials is truthfulness.

he has a record of a michigan business tax he voted for the michigan business tax that forces businesses out of the state of michigan and he voted for the granholm stimulus which led to the great tax credits of a battery factory in hollen that is bankruptcy today. as of the special-interest favors are not what we need. we need a uniform tax breaks that allow small business to flourish and telling people that things that are not true is what you do when you don't of a plan of your own. >> moderator: thank you pittard next question will begin with mr. mcdowell. how can the government in collaboration with other levels of government provide an equitable quality public education for all children pre-k through grade 12. we are fortunate here and have some of the finest schools

anywhere. we have great universities, great public schools, trade schools and right here in city we have an excellent community college in northwestern which has helped to this community and so many of our young people move forward. we have great universities and superior, northern michigan university and right now they are training the entrepreneurs of the future for the jobs to people to compete globally. education has two goals. it should have the first to educate our children and the students to make sure they can compete globally in this economy and also we need to work with the community to help place the eskridge but when they get out of school so we can have jobs. right here in northern michigan they don't have to leave to go looking for work. the part of any educational program of course is supporting our teachers making sure that our teachers have the training

they need and the community support so they can continue to do their best teaching our young people. and one thing we have an obligation as the federal government is to help our students at the financial need to be able to go to school. on the two daughters and college right now. so like understand the strain it can put on families to put children through school. congressman benishek, you have a totally different idea. the school aid from 9.6 million american students and thousands of children right here in northern michigan how will these families able to afford to put their shall enter school to become the entrepreneurs of the future and create jobs right here in northern michigan that they cannot have the financial aid that they need. also, when to close our commercial air service to 7 million michigan communities.

>> moderator: thank you to read dr. stephen? how can the federal government in levels of other government provide an equitable, quality public education for all children pre-k through grade 12? one minute. benishek: well, frankly i think that education is better at the local level. i talk to teachers and administrators across the district that tell me the rules are getting out of washington make it more difficult for them to teach their children and we've seen difficulty of the goals coming out of washington and many have fled to the closure of vocational programs in the district because there simply isn't cut in the schedule because they will do that. the best way for the federal government to help local districts is to decrease the spending in the department of education and send that money back to local districts to

decide for themselves how they want to educate their children. >> moderator: would you like to be seconds? mcdowell: once again, we have to make sure that our students have the opportunity to go to school and that includes financial aid and we need to encourage and give children the opportunity and make sure it is available. the united states at this time is a critical time in our economy, and also, benishek voted to end the air service. the several communities in northern michigan tech university's to move students especially to get world-class professor to teach at universities that's not going to help the economy and grow jobs in northern michigan. >> moderator: thank you. dr. benishek the next question is on health care.

do you support the affordable health care why or why not? benishek: i want to respond to this air service thing. this is an example of the stuff that he's distorting of my record here but i can to congress a was going to expire in one month so i voted to extend it to and a half years. that would see is calling because of the end of two and a half years, it would end but it was going to end in a month so i extended it to end a half years that we should revisit. that is a personally reasonable vote. health care in america is a disaster under the affordable care act. the president's plan talks about getting health care to everybody else but he's not going to do it because number one it takes $700 billion all of medicare

cutting $700 million out of medicare means michigan's first district, hospitals and nursing homes and providers will get $2 billion less. that means in the grand traverse county according to the university of minnesota there will be $200 million less in medicare reimbursements over the next ten years. today in alabama a hospital closed saying that under the affordable care that they couldn't afford to stay open pit across this district believe the i've taken care of patients for 30 years and i know how important it is now. i never voted to end medicare. i want to make sure that it stays there for the longest time. the president's health care bill cuts $200 million of medicare right here in this county and our small local hospitals aren't printable to stay open with kutz like that throughout the district and you can say you have access to medical care before hospital is closed,

you're not going to have access to medical care. there's lots and lots more detail that i could give you but i can do it in the time allotted. >> moderator: mr. mcdowell, response? mcdowell: costs are out of control. right now nobody in washington is looking at putting in for me to make sure that all americans have accessible, affordable and quality-of-care i was on a voluntary emt for many years and also a longtime trustee at the memorial hospital. there was a night several years ago we got a call that showed up there was a man collapsed in his garden. his wife said i sure he had a heart attack because he was complaining of chest pain for two months. i first reaction was why didn't he go in and have it taken care of? she explained he is a leap of carpenter and his insurance lapse and he thought he could go back to work any day because he knew if he went in it would hurt financially.

he didn't make it. that is the present health care system run by the insurance companies and that is all the congressman wants to go back to. >> moderator: is the time it? would you like 30 minutes or 30 seconds [laughter] mcdowell: it also implements a program in medicare that allows unelected bureaucrats to make the cuts so that means 15 bureaucrats in washington have decided who would do the spending. frankly if you that healthcare should be between the doctor the family and the patient, and that between 15 bureaucrats in washington deciding what they are going to pay for we have a

great health care system in this country. the problem is that it is too expensive we need to bring the cost down. my time is apparently. >> moderator: you can have five seconds, i'm sorry. >> you get 30 seconds for rebuttal. >> moderator: the initial question you get two minutes and then the responder it's one minute and then the initial person gets 30 seconds to clarify or rebut and then it goes to the next person and again we go back and forth and i cut mr. mcdowell short on that last one. i think that he hesitated and the card went up at the same time so i do apologize. mcdowell: i would like to respond to mr. benishek's comment and attack. first his attack is pants on fire. that means it's cut medicare by

$6,400 a year per individual. >> moderator: we will get to that at this point but right now the question goes to you, mr. mcdowell what are your plans to save the medicare program? mcdowell: medicare is a promise that we made to our seniors with a peace of mind and dignity that they deserved. they've paid into medicare all of their working lives and they deserve the coverage. i pledge to protect medicare and strengthen medicare and make sure that it is there for the future. we have to look at the cost. the cost is out of control. right now the drug companies dictate the prices for drugs in the medicare program. the government or the medicare program which is simply negotiated with the pharmaceutical coverage there is

a committee on government oversight and government reform so that we could save $156 billion a year alone that could be reinvested back in medicare to make sure the program is solvent and moves forward and protect seniors. the good example of that is the va, negotiates with the pharmaceuticals and the drug costs are 58% lower than medicare. it is $250 a year for lipitor. medicare pays almost $800 a year for the same script. these are common sense approaches that we need to start with. it makes more sense to me than seniors pay $6,400 a year more for their health care forces them to go out and negotiate with private insurance company in order to give more tax breaks in addition to hundred thousand dollars a year on tax breaks at the same time this increase is

the national debt by $8 trillion over the next ten years. thank you. >> moderator: dr. benishek, one minute. benishek: he seems to make up his own facts like cutting the cost of a prescription is going to take care of the medicare problem. the problem of medicare is that it is to be bankrupt in ten years and that's because of the fact 10,000 people a day are being added to the medicare rules and the fact that today for every person receiving benefits in ten years only to people will be paying for every person receiving benefits. the prescription is a minor part of the whole price of medicare to read we need to reform medicare so that it's there for current seniors and future generations. our plan allows people 55 and older the same exact medicare that they have today. people 54 years or less you have the option of staying on traditional medicare or taking a premium support private insurance plans over to the federal the employees and

members of congress. if that suits you better the competition in the private sector is to bring to the costs that is a reasonable thing to do and still address the cost. thank you. >> moderator: 32nd response. mcdowell: that was spoken like a true politician. you could go to washington and no $156 billion is insignificant and $156 billion is a lot of money and that is a common sense approach to how we save medicare. we need to look of everything we can that cuts the spending and not shift the cost on the backs of our seniors who can least afford to pay it. >> moderator: thank you. next question for dr. benishek. two minutes. will you support or oppose vouchers for medicare and medicaid?

benishek: the republican plan i'm going to have the time to explain the plan a little bit more. our plan as i said before is to allow people 55 or older to be on the same medicaid you have now and for people 54 years of age or less then you have the option of staying on traditional medicare or opting for a private insurance plan which we serve you better who have medicare supplement insurance, they have co-payments and deductibles so people right now buy additional insurance so why don't we have some options where we give people who are spending the money the options of how to spend it we spend it on traditional medicare or make a plan that makes you better and have a high deductible and high coverage on dental or whatever that gives you options and keeps the money in your hands. right now under the president's bill you want to have the options of how you're bring to

spend your money. the president 15 on elected your cuts are going to decide how to spend the money if you decided that, you know, getting your head of fixed when you're 85-years-old isn't worth the money there would be no medicare reimbursement for getting your head of fixed when you are 85-years-old despite what the doctor says, it's not what the family says. there is no appeal or going to the court this doesn't make any sense to me. i don't want a patient, the family, the doctor making these decisions, not bureaucrats in washington. let's keep money in the hands of the people whose money it is and not give it to the bureaucrats that decide how to spend your money. ..

>> right now, medicare takes care your health care needs. i promise you that i will protect medicare, strengthening medicare, and make sure that it is not saved for this generation, but future generations as well. >> moderator: a response? benishek: is a doctor, you just don't get used to hearing people say what gary's whole campaign is. he doesn't have a plan to save

medicare. you know that prescription drugs are not medicare. the cost of hospitalization. everybody knows that. it's not that prescription drugs. we need to bring down the costs by allowing people to decide how to spend their money and get their competition into the field. a solution of the prescriptions is illogical. >> moderator: next question will go to mr. gary mcdowell. the funds for social security will begin to increase after the baby boomers. why we here all this talk of the two programs going broke? mr. mcdowell, you have two minutes. mcdowell: i have been traveling across the district. i talk to a lot of seniors. most seniors in this district depend solely on social security for their income.

they pay into the program and has done so the entire time. i promise you that i will fight to protect social security and i will oppose any attempts to privatize the to raise the retirement age. to start out, social security right now is projected to be solvent for the next several years. when i look back at the long-term problems of social security, president ronald reagan and house speaker got together and formed a bipartisan commission to look the long-term ways to make sure that social security was assaulted. it turned we do that again. it is time that we do a lot of things in a bipartisan fashion. this covers is the most

unproductive and dysfunctional congress of all time. he wants to privatize social security and turn it over to wall street. the same people that caused our economy to crash when i was traveling across the district, i talked to a lot of seniors. they told me over and over that they don't believe wall street has their best interest at heart, and i don't either. >> moderator: doctor benishek, what is your response? benishek: i tend to agree with gary that the problem is not so much social security as it is medicare. the social security trust fund is, as gary said, it is not as bad a shape as the medicare

trust fund. we don't address this problem right now, current seniors are going to lose benefits. that is where the reform is needed is a medicare. so i think that we need to look at it. this idea to gary says is not going to do it. i would be happy to listen to an idea -- a bipartisan plan that i outlined before. it actually solves the problem. i would be happy to look at another intro to solve the problem. but we need to address it now. with real solutions and not fantasy solutions area you know, it is a lot. >> moderator: thirty-second rebuttal? mcdowell: the so-called bipartisan plan, there is no bipartisan plan right now. folks, that is a fantasy. that is the problem with this

congress. they cannot come together on the most basic and fundamental problems like solving medicare and social security. to say that they are $156 billion here is nothing, well, here in northern michigan, that is a lot of money. you need to start by cutting the cost of medicare. not putting the cost back onto her seniors. >> moderator: thank you. next question? we will start with doctor benishek on that topic. what will you do to reduce the current hyper partisanship in congress. benishek: i am not really a partisan. i am expending about the spending that we are doing. i respect the michigan delegation.

we have been able to do a lot of good work for the region together. i spent the day in his trip to zürich, and he spent the day in mine. we may differ on the way we want to do it, but we have been able to do a lot of regional bipartisan things and what you're seeing in congress when you talk about a do-nothing congress, it is really a do-nothing senate. in the house, we have passed 20 different pieces of legislation over the last year. including, for example, the budget. we balanced the budget in 2011 and 2012 that reduces our debt without raising taxes on anyone. the senate hasn't passed a budget in over three years. it's hard to negotiate a

position. we negotiate a budget, and in then the senate doesn't pass it. so then how do you negotiate. you can't negotiate. they just criticize your possession and sale, we don't have a position. so that is the problem with the government and saying, why are we doing something? they don't do anything in the senate, so you can't negotiate to move forward. we come together as a congress and we move forward. that's not what works because they don't do anything. >> moderator: one minute response, mr. mcdowell? mcdowell: i chaired the budget committee, the largest one in the area. the community health committee

had bipartisan support. every republican and democrat on the committee supported it. because of our work together. we are respected and be brought forward a lot of good ideas. i was looking for ideas move congress for her. this congress we have now, this is a do-nothing congress. a dysfunctional congress. harry truman campaign in 1948. he campaigned against the do-nothing congress. they passed in 952 bills. this congress has passed about 100 bills. they can even pass builder campaign. i congress back them up like overachievers compared to this congress. >> moderator: thank you. a 32nd response? benishek: we have passed over 20

bills in the house. you know, i guess it is better than spending money that we don't have. when kerry was in the house, he voted for the granholm stimulus. i'm glad we don't do that again. you know, he voted for one of the largest taxes in the history of michigan. business leaving the state. >> moderator: moving to a different topic of the environment, we will start with mr. mcdowell. will you support the keystone pipeline? mcdowell: the keystone pipeline is important. a need to make sure that it gets completed. it has to be done in a responsible manner and we have to give that pipeline that doesn't engage our most critical resources like water, and that

is what we need to do, we need to get it done and we need to do it in a responsible manner. we have so many great natural resources here in northern washington. we have so much abundance of iron ore we have reports and water resources have to be protected. we have to make sure that it is done in a responsible manner. we have to make sure that we have the power to sufficiently power our economy. because a strong economy needs an affordable and reliable policy. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek? benishek: absolutely support that. in washington, we talk about all of the above energy plans.

they block the keystone pipeline. they block oil and gas showing on federal land. and we need all of the above energy plans that include wind and solar and gas and oil and coal. we need all of our energy sources to keep prices down in this country. gas was $1.83 a gallon on mr. obama came into office. it has pushed gas. not even to mention all of the jobs that are related to this. i watch these jobs here in america. i don't think we should send these jobs to people overseas that hate us. we need to bring down costs so brings down the price of fuel. >> moderator: a second response from mr. mcdowell?

mcdowell: we need to leader country to energy independence. we have to make sure it's done in a responsible manner. we have an abundance of natural gas here in michigan, that creates jobs here and those companies are required, i think, to abide by all michigan clean water policies. we need to look towards the future. >> moderator: thank you. next question, and we will start with doctor benishek. how do you see our country solving global warming and energy prices? you have two minutes. benishek: i believe that we need to be drilling for oil here in

america. this is upsetting when i see the camera again when i know you're not allowed to do that. it is disturbing. >> moderator: these are regulations, and this is the policy. we ask you not to come. again, how do you see our country regarding global warming issues. two minutes. benishek: we need an energy plan that includes everything and not picking winners and losers. you know, we have seen how this works at the federal level where they pick a company like solynda to do solar panels, then they go bankrupt within a year. we have seen subsidies at the state level, the granholm stimulus and building a battery doctor collector cars from another company is bankrupt wasting our resources.

we let the market decide what is the best energy for our country and not subsidize one thing over or the other, depending who is in the white house or who is friends with you and all that kind of stuff. you know, we need to encourage that market your home. i don't believe that stopping and drilling for oil in this country and then giving a 2 billion-dollar loan to the brazilians to pump their oil is in the best interest of america. this is something that mr. obama does. you know, i think the granholm stimulus that very simple that is a complete disaster for the state of michigan. we have enclosed factory, no jobs, a debt with this tax credit. this is not the type of thing that we need the government picking winners and losers on.

>> moderator: mr. mcdowell come how do you see as solving these issues? mcdowell: we need to develop the energy sources of the future, wind and soil and biomass. we need to make sure that what we are doing now is done in a responsible manner. congressman dan benishek, last night he denied climate change. he said there is no climate change. every scientists outside of the ones that work for the oil industry, they have agreed that climate change is real and we need to do something about it. congressman benishek, i don't know how you can look towards change and clean energy bills when you are so closely tied with the energy industry. you have taken almost $100,000 in campaign contributions and even set up and said that the

oil companies pay their fair share of taxes. $5 billion per year when us in this room, we can't even afford to put gas in our cars. and you are making some record profits right now. >> moderator: seconds? benishek: i do not support this for anybody. that is why i said that we should not be picking winners and losers. and people say things aren't to get elected to this office. and i'm trying to find other solutions here. these problems are not easy problems. these are serious problems facing america. we just can't, you know, when the selection by saying stuff that isn't true. we have serious problems that we need to address. >> moderator: thank you. the next question is for

mr. mcdowell. what is your plan to stop the asian carp invasion? you have two minutes. mcdowell: like i said previously, it provides over one half million jobs and in the fishing industry alone, i think it is recreation, a 7 billion-dollar industry in michigan that is at risk right now. this asian carp invasion is real. when i was a state legislature before the resolutions urging congress to do something, we sponsored a resolution and encourage michigan residents to take a child fishing on that day. to show children what a great resource that we have and how important is that we protect them. also, boycotting the city of

chicago. there were some resolutions put forth in congress. there were rules put in place to stop this carp invasion. congressman benishek voted against it. we need to make sure that we do everything we can to stop the asian carp. we need to make sure that the great lakes and the mississippi river basins are blocked out. it is more than a canal at chicago. there are several places where they can come across ships. we need to have really strong laws in effect the great lakes basin, for any reasons, those who are bringing them and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. we need to hold those responsible who are deliberately bringing in the asian car. i will make sure that we work towards legislation that has the

ability to ensure this doesn't happen. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek, you have 30 seconds. benishek: i have never voted against stopping the asian car. if you think lying is going to you think lying is good work, it's just not going to work. i have been working on this issue since i've been there. i have met with the corps of engineers. i go over the plans what we can do to stop it. i voted for programs to increase the speed and frankly it is a complex issue. there is lots of ways for asian car to get in the great lakes. not only in chicago, but also in lake area. the corps of engineers, i wish that they would move faster. working on a comprehensive plan to stop his car coming into michigan. you know, i'm a firm believer in

the security of the great lakes. i sponsored legislation. >> moderator: thank you. thirty seconds, mr. mcdowell? mcdowell: you had a chance come you didn't take it. he requested the army corps of engineers to look into this and another study, and everyday there were carp entering the basin. you also voted against funding on the great lakes restoration. restoring our great lakes, protecting our great lakes. raising them to the same level of chesapeake bay and others. the great lakes are 20% of the fresh water in the world. right here. benishek: >> moderator: thank you very much. doctor benishek.

the disastrous jury probably the front page of "the new york times." how would you help cherry farmers? benishek: well, we were work -- working on the tart cherry farmers having access to the low interest loans that other people haven't also have the opportunity to get crop insurance. they do not have the opportunity always for crop insurance. that is not going to help the current farmers, but the next time you will have opportunity for the tart cherry crop to have insurance. i am very proud to have the michigan farm bureau's endorsement of my campaign. i have been meeting with farmers throughout the district. not only cherry farmers and apple farmers, corn farmers and potato farmers, and i've learned about the issues.

i'm a surgeon. i don't pretend to be a farmer. i am just talking to farmers and i have been able to gain their support with the views that i have come making sure that their interests are put forth in washington. it has been a pleasure for me to get that endorsement. i was at a farm bureau county dinner the other night and learn more about the issues. the disaster with the drought has been disastrous throughout the midwest. we know that we need to have federal supports about farmers are not a complete whim of the weather. we look to protect them. that is what i have been doing, and that is what makes me grateful to have the farm bureau endorsement.

>> moderator: mr. mcdowell? mcdowell: agriculture is a huge part of economics in michigan. it is the second or third largest provider of jobs in michigan. and we have to make sure that we have projected farmers. i myself am a lifelong farmer. a girl pop onto my family lives on. to this day. my brothers expanded it to over 1000 acres. my dad started the business in 1948. when he had this terrible drought this summer, effective farmers and farm prices across the country. we have a disaster right here with fruit crops. that did not just her farmers for the whole economy. that is why it is so important that we get a farm bill passed. senator stabenow produced the farm bill to protect farmers here. to actually have crop insurance

for the first time cut the deficit by $32 billion. congressman benishek voted to come back and campaign instead of getting that done. >> moderator: thank you. you have 30 seconds. benishek: well, if i am so bad, i don't know why the farm bureau endorsement. i mean, they didn't endorse you, they endorsed me. so i don't understand, you know, why i am so bad. i listened to farmers and that's how i get my information. it is from the farmers. the policies i support of the ones that they support. i don't think there's any doubt on to the farmers want to have is the. >> moderator: thank you. mr. mcdowell? how do you envision working with tribal leaders to improve relations. you have two minutes. mcdowell: i have had a great

relationship with tribal leaders. the indian people of northern michigan. when i was a county commissioner, i worked very closely to the two tribes in chippewa county and also the sioux tribe. as a state legislature, i also represented them. i work towards giving them great representative in the community. we work together with tribes to provide dialysis and programs for the youth. i took that to lansing, michigan. i was the northern michigan legislature. wanted to ensure that the children get the education that

they need. i also supported the women against violence act. which this congress has not. putting indian women at risk on the reservations, and they are abused by the mail in their household. i'm very proud of my support of former chairman jerry bailey. gary is an up-and-coming leader not just in the indian community, but in the whole greater community. thank you, gary, for your support. i really appreciate it, and i will always treat everybody the same respect level. i don't care what nationality you are, i will fight for your rights. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek, you have one minute. benishek: it has been a real pleasure meeting many of the tribal members in the district. you know, i am very proud to serve on the natural resources

committee. it has been a pleasure to hear about the issues that face native americans and many tribes in northern michigan. you know, i don't know -- every single tribal area, i have tried to do that. you know, it has been a pleasure to learn about their issues and try to help support them. because the tribes have really improved themselves over the past two decades. they have made things a lot better for the tribal people are in northern michigan. i am working to help support their issues on the mid-american subcommittee and the national resources committee, and i certainly welcome the policy decisions going forward. benishek: >> moderator: thank you a

response? mcdowell: i have been doing this all my life. i'm the oldest of 10. i saw the community at that time back in the 60s. the poverty, i have seen advances because of educational opportunities. affordable housing for the communities. >> moderator: thank you. next question? doctor benishek, your views on global warming and how it would affect your energy policy. you have two minutes. benishek: i'm not sure what the facts are about global warming, to tell you the truth. thirty years ago we had, you know, global cooling.

now, i'm not certain that global warming is actually going on. if it is going on, what positives. the climate has changed up and down over the past several thousand years. to describe one reason or another to it is very difficult. as i said yesterday, you need to have a really sound science before you make those difficult decisions. you know, i am a scientist. i have been taking care patients for 30 years. and i know that you don't change an operation that you do because some people have said that this new operation is a lot better. all right. you need to have years of unbiased will result before you make a critical decision that

affect people's lives. frankly, i have not been convinced us what the real facts are. and i certainly don't know that we should be spending trillions of dollars over science that is argued about. because i have been through this before. i have seen people tout the medical theory, saying how great it was and see people act on that end the disastrous results. and i don't want to do that in the field of global warming. >> moderator: thank you. mr. mcdowell, you have one minute. mcdowell: i just look at the scientific issues. this should be an issue based solely on the science of the issue. right now, our legs have dropped

about 20 inches in the last 10 years. i looked across the bigger and it really frightens me. i don't believe we have yours nearsightedness. to decide if anything has happened or not. more evaporation, raising things to record warmth. it is changing our native species. this year we couldn't catch whitefish because they had to go to such great depths. i am really afraid about the future. but our children and grandchildren will face. we need to move towards cleaner fuels. this investment of the technology of the future of biomass, or are great jobs here in northern michigan, and we do have a life upon our enemies for our energy sources. >> moderator: thank you. you have a response? benishek: i don't think kerry understands the science of

global warming. they talked about yesterday. the fact that there was dredging in the st. clair river may have led to the decrease in late here -- later on in lake erie. >> moderator: mr. mcdowell. would you support changing u.s. postal service retirement system to preserve them. if not, what is your solution to

serving populated areas. mcdowell: the postal service is so important in northern michigan. it is where a lot of senior citizens rely on the postal service. but as for communications, but also for prescriptions and other ways to keep them connected to the world. 40% of the post offices were in the first congressional district and they were scheduled to be close. two distribution centers were in the congressional district and the jobs that i state, it is huge for our economy. to make sure that we have a strong and vibrant postal service. we know they are undergoing change because of the internet and other major communications. but they also need to be given the means to continue and compete with the private sector. they passed legislation that requires the postal service fund

retirement benefits for the next 70 some years. they require that from any other private company, so why should the postal service have their hands tied? need to unleash the post office and allow them to compete freely in the private sector. the congressman has never taking a position on it. police say he will not be bail the post office out. neither congressman the will fight for our postal service and do the right thing here in northern michigan. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek, you have one minute. benishek: you know, they are under duress. so we can pretend they can go on the same way that they always have a 40% less business. there has to be some changes made. it discusses me every time you look at a situation where you are going to lose jobs in the first district. i met with the postal service.

the policy of the pension is a serious situation. the pension plan of the postal workers is underfunded. i mean, some people say that we need to fund retirement. i don't want the postal retirees to be out of money. some people say we are spending too much money for the trust fund for the retirees and we need to spend more money on their services. well, i know that i don't want the postal retirement service to be out of money. it's difficult to get a good handle on. there is no easy solution. but the fact that they lose money, it is not a good thing and we need to address it. >> moderator: thank you. you have 30 seconds. mcdowell: what we need to do is repeal the legislation that puts that unreasonable burden on the post office and allow the post office to compete with the private sector. let them change their methods.

they should be allowed to do that. the fact that it is down 40%, i think you're making up your own facts here. it is not merely that drastic of a cut in volume. we need to make sure when we talk about retirements, i want those employees to have jobs. >> moderator: thank you. next question, doctor benishek, a follow-up question regarding global warming. a 20 or make a study the u.s. congress concluded that the global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human induced initiatives of heat trapping gases. mainly from the burning of fossil fuels and coal and oil and gas. don't you think congress should act when you have two minutes. mcdowell: i think i addressed that earlier. one group of scientists has an

opinion, it doesn't mean that all the scientists have an opinion. frankly, i think it is dangerous to jump onto something before it is widely proven. i mean, like i said before, i have seen this time and time again in medicine. and a lot of other research. frankly, a lot of the research done at the government is politicized. the people in government tender for people on these commissions that have the same political beliefs and they actually changed the science based on political decisions. i am a member of the science and space and technology committee. i have seen this happen before my very eyes. so i do not believe that we should suddenly change the entire course of the country when there are trillions of dollars being spent on science

that i believe is proven. >> moderator: thank you. mcdowell: it has been the consensus of almost every science change. we cannot be waiting until it's too late. i don't want him, my little grandson to look at me and say why didn't you do something. we have a responsibility to make sure that we listen to science. last night, congressman cummings you stated that you were a scientist. i guess you were a climate change scientists last night. the only scientist that i don't

understand are the ones that work for big oil companies, which, of course some are your major sponsors. >> moderator: thank you. you have 35 seconds. benishek: i believe in an all above energy plan. i want jobs in this country. the fact that the epa is over regulating us to the point that, you know, telling us that we can't have this without complying with standards that apply to the county is just ridiculous. i mean, it is becoming more and more difficult to get into the woods. >> moderator: thank you.

mr. mcdowell. moving to employment, everyone talks about bringing jobs to northern michigan. what would you do to bring more jobs to northern michigan. you have two minutes. mcdowell: we need new jobs in northern michigan. that is one of the major problems that we must fix there. i'm a small businessman myself and i understand how critical small businesses to our economy. we need to keep taxes low for small business. so we can plan our future area we need to grow and be able to hire people. we need to keep taxes low for working families. we spend our resources providing services. we spend our money locally. we need to look at the red tape and if it's not working, we need to get rid of it. we have great educational opportunities. we have a great community college right here. these are the entrepreneurs of

the future, we want to train them so they can live right here in northern michigan. we have great natural resources. we have the forest which provides jobs and the water that brings people here to northern michigan. we need to get rid of these unfair trade deals that cost us jobs right here in northern michigan. congressman benishek, he supports these unfair trade deals. he said they are good for northern michigan. and he wants to allow companies to put more mercury into the great lakes and jeopardize the 500,000 jobs that are tied directly to the great lakes. commercial air service for seven airports in northern michigan are vital to our infrastructure. it is so important for billions of dollars of commercial activity. it is important for our economy.

those projects, those long-term projects or people's work today and ensure our economy and future. >> moderator: doctor benishek, you have 30 seconds. benishek: you know, talk about how this was the problem. he supported the michigan business tax. one of the highest tax increases on business in the history of this in michigan. they drove business out of the state. and talk about the taxes low on business, but the record does not reflect that. he was part of the $2 billion in what was picking winners and losers in the state of michigan. we need to have uniform tax

relief for our small businesses. keeping the businesses open. stopping the regulations. repealing obama's health care plan, would you support as well, making it difficult or people in small business to flourish. the things you support are exactly opposite of the things that you say. >> moderator: mr. mcdowell, you have 30 seconds. mcdowell: i have voted to cut taxes on working families. i support the elimination of the business tax that was a jocular. that was the largest tax cut in the history of michigan. talking about the silliest package, the only thing that i can think he is referring to is the michigan program. which is so beneficial to our state. so many jobs for michigan and we have so much to promote, so much to offer here. that program has been so good.

businessmen say it increases the program. it has been such a successful program. that is the type of stimulus package that i support. congressman cummings need to get your facts straight. that has been good for northern michigan. we have good jobs here, people have seen what we have here. so many people want to stay here and want to live here. grow their businesses here and eventually retired or. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek, moving towards the debt in the deficit. how do you propose to reduce current debt and ongoing deficit? you have two minutes. benishek: we need to stop spending money that we don't have. we put forth a budget in 2011 in the house and in 2012 which eliminates the debt without raising taxes on anybody. it takes four years to do it. but it's not a trillion dollars year added to the deficit.

i mean, mr. obama, when he got into office, he said he was going to cut the deficit in half. you know, nancy pelosi and the rest of the democrats in washington, they have had a trillion dollar deficit every year of the obama administration. these are the policies that kerry supports. he supports the health care law which adds 24 alien new taxes to americans, it cuts the beneficiaries of medicare and also increase costs and makes it so people can hire. it is just ridiculous to say that. it shows that businesses have left. michigan was number 49 out of 50. you know, now it is at least up

to seven under the snyder administration. the policies that have failed under granholm are feeling in washington today under mr. obama. we need to cut spending. we need to stop picking winners and losers. we get the debt under control and get the regulations down to our small business owner should create jobs. small business owners create jobs. this is the number one thing that people have been talking about as far as business grows. >> moderator: thank you. mr. mcdowell? mcdowell: washington spending is out of control and we have to reduce the deficit. we can do it by cutting wasteful spending. and not on the backs of our seniors are small businessmen are working class.

i am a small businessman. i balance my budget everyday. we balance our budget every year and we are required under water. there are many ways to cut the spending, the wasteful spending. there are 143 different government agencies that have overlapping or duplication of services. just by eliminating this to save over $100 million a year. i've been a farmer all my life and we are still paying farmers not to grow crops. the $156 billion we could save by negotiating with medicare, even though the congressman says it is not important. it is real money. that is how we will balance the budget, by cutting wasteful

spending. >> moderator: thank you. mr. benishek come you have 30 seconds. benishek: he is right, we did it though by raising taxes. that is a fallacy, we didn't cut spending in granholm's demonstration. they took the stimulus money and they spent that instead of michigan. i mean, it is just ridiculous to think that our national economy is going to get better under the same policies that failed the state of michigan in less than 14% unemployment and multiple bankruptcies in the state. >> moderator: thank you. unfortunately, this is where to be a last question for the night. this is not mean that we don't have a lot of massive amounts of questions. this is a follow up question. you're going to start with mr. mcdowell. we have to start creating jobs

right now, that's what he said in his opening remarks for the question is what kind of jobs you believe need to be created and by whom will they be created and who will pay for them? you have two minutes. mcdowell: you are absolutely right. jobs is the most important issue in northern michigan. we need to put our people to work. people want more. they want jobs. they also made the opportunity. we need to invest in education and develop our natural resources. it is a huge opportunity that we have, and we have great opportunities in the tourism industry. they may not be the greatest paying jobs, but the business owners are part of our community. we need to get the farm bill done that would help the farm families here. to be able to build a big hole. in health care, that is a real

growth in this community. the jobs that they provide, and we have to make sure that we get the cost down on health care. we talked to the hospital, and they will tell you that their biggest economic challenge is use of their emergency room. that is what will save our health care system. preventative wellness. patient oriented health care system. we need to step aside and get rid of those that are not working, we need to keep taxes low on small business and working families so they can grow with the jobs here in northern michigan. >> moderator: you have 30 seconds. no rebuttal? okay. doctor benishek, you have one minute.

benishek: people who make jobs are people who are in small business. many were thrown under the bus that kerry supported. taxes went towards the battery plant in holland that went bankrupt. we need to support all of our businesses. we need to stop the overzealous regulation of small business that makes a guy have to build a kitchen and find out later if it needs help. we need to eliminate the presence of turlock which kills jobs. one mr. mcdowell?

mcdowell: it actually increases the national debt by a train dollars over the next 10 years. we help to get the deficit down by cutting wasteful spending. not by giving millionaires another tax break and driving the national data, hurting our economy and our employers ability to hire people. >> moderator: thank you both, and thank you everyone. i have to commend you. there was no heckling, and only had to remind one or two people or things. you have been a great crowd and thank you for your patience. we have five minutes left, so we're going to do one minute of closing remarks from each candidate. the candidates will stick around for a little bit while i'm sure. what we try to do after these forms is type up a list of questions that you, the audience cemented. but you didn't get answers to. that may provide them to the campaign committee and we hope

that the candidates themselves will answer the very questions you have asked on a website or in some some form of media city get answers to the questions you have proposed today. because they all know that these questions are very important. we started with doctor benishek on opening remarks and i will start with mr. mcdowell mr. mcdowell on the closing remarks. you have one minute. benishek: thank you everyone for coming out tonight. i hope it was enjoyable for everyone. i want to welcome [inaudible name]. welcome. jobs are here to get our economy back on track. cutting the deficit by cutting wasteful spending. also protecting social security and medicare avoiding privatizing social security and the retirement age being raised

and turn social security over to wall street. i promise to protect the great lakes. we want to create 500,000 new jobs right here in northern michigan. and i will also not put the cost of medicare on our seniors. those who work and earn social security. you deserve it in your retirement years. thank you so much for having me here tonight. i appreciate your vote on november 6. >> moderator: doctor benishek, closing remarks? benishek: thank you very much. thank you jennifer for doing a good job as moderator. i agree with gary you can see the difference between the two of us. he is a guy that has run for

office every of the last two decades. i have been taking care of seniors and veterans in northern michigan. and i ran for congress because i'm concerned about what is what's going to happen to our children and grandchildren would be outrageous policies of the obama administration and supporters like gary. michigan is going through difficult times. streamlining regulations, making sure that things are fair for limiting the president health care law which is bad for patients in america. i humbly ask for your vote on november 6. we want to give our children and grandchildren a better future. >> moderator: thank you to each of the candidates for participating. >> first and foremost, we have to create an environment in which our businesses can thrive. when you look at the uniqueness

on the border that is different from the tax reform that is needed for the whole nation, encumbrance of immigration reform. as i traveled and met with the agriculture folks in the ranchers, we have a work force because of our immigration system is and we can't get workers to go back and forth. it takes hours to come back and forth. these problems create an impediment to congress. we have to be able to provide workforce that can move back and forth very easily. right now, we are not able to do that because of the impediments and that becomes an economic issue as well. >> some of these issues have to do with the issue that was raised with regard to the near the border. being susceptible to national trends when it comes to unemployment and the economy.

one thing that we have to avoid is the sequestration that is looming at the end of the year that will hurt, first and foremost, our military readiness, but for an area like yuma that relies on the defense industry, it will be devastating >> watch the debates start at 10:00 a.m. eastern on saturday on c-span. >> just a few minutes ago, i called vice president bush and congratulated him on his victory. and i know i speak for all of you and all the american people when i say that he will be our president and we will work with them. we face major challenges ahead, and we must work together. >> i just received a telephone call from governor dukakis.

and i want you to know that he was most gracious in his call was personal and it was genuinely friendly. and it was within the great tradition of american politics. >> this week and on american history tv, 20 years of presidential victory speeches. watch at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. you are watching c-span do with politics and public affairs. weekdays featuring live coverage of the u.s. senate. on weeknights, watch key public policy events and every weekend, the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. you can see past programs and get our schedules our website, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites.